Teaching

Teaching philosophy

My teaching is grounded in a learner-centered, constructivist approach, starting as much as possible from what students already know and building from there toward more advanced conceptualization and skill. I emphasize respectful collaboration and feedback in my courses, and work to balance support and challenge to encourage optimal learning outcomes. I teach comfortably in face-to-face, online, and blended formats, and I carefully design assessments that aim to measurably develop both competence and confidence. Over 15 years and four institutions, I’ve developed and delivered courses across the full counseling curriculum, including a course I’m particularly passionate about on neuroscience and psychopharmacology for helping professionals. This course focuses on using metaphor and simple language to help students understand complex neurobiological concepts, and then engages them in building their own narratives to explain these concepts effectively to clients.

Courses

  • Levels Taught: Masters (primary), Bachelors

  • Modalities: In-person, Online Synchronous, Hybrid

  • Signature Pedagogies: Experiential skill development, Simulation experiences

  • Course Topics: (taught over 15 years and four universities)

    • Professional Orientation and Ethics
    • Counseling Skills
    • Diversity & Advocacy
    • Foundations of CMH Counseling
    • Theories of Counseling
    • Group Counseling
    • Couples Counseling
    • Family Counseling
    • Spirituality in Counseling
    • Neuropsychology
    • Practicum and Internship in Clinical Mental Health Counseling

Supervision

Supervision and advising of postgraduate students is central to my professional identity. I’ve maintained a large advising load for many years, and have led individual and triadic supervision across practicum and internship courses. In both roles, I draw on Bernard’s Discrimination Model with an emphasis on building strong relationships to encourage reflective practice, ethical reasoning, multicultural responsiveness, and alignment with placement site expectations. I’ve also consistently valued mentoring postgraduate students through research design, conference presentations, application to doctoral programs, and professional networking.